Arthur Hayes, the former BitMEX CEO, flatly denied buying Hyperliquid (HYPE) tokens on June 8 after blockchain sleuth Lookonchain reported that a wallet attributed to him withdrew 33,978 HYPE — worth about $2.09 million — from the exchange Bybit. “I didn’t buy shit,” Hayes wrote publicly that same day, pushing back on the notion that he had added to his position.
The Wallet and the Denial
Lookonchain flagged the withdrawal using labels from Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics firm that claims 95% accuracy in wallet attribution. The wallet in question, identified via Arkham, pulled the tokens from Bybit at an implied entry price of roughly $61.50 per HYPE. Hayes, however, was blunt in rejecting the implication. His denial came within hours of the report, and he did not offer an alternative explanation for the wallet’s activity.
A Previous Exit and a Price Drop
Hayes had earlier stated he exited his entire HYPE position at prices above $72. That move preceded a roughly 23% decline in the token, which slid below $56 at its lowest. The denial of a new purchase — coupled with the withdrawal — raises questions about whether the wallet is actually his, or if someone else moved funds under a label that may be incorrect. Arkham has drawn scrutiny before for misattributions that later required revisions.
Hayes' Macro Hedge Explanation
Hayes attributed his earlier exits from both HYPE and NEAR to macro hedging. He said he wanted to wait for a better entry point. That suggested a tactical retreat, not a permanent exit. But the June 8 withdrawal — if indeed from a Hayes-controlled wallet — would indicate a reversal, something he denies. The contradiction remains unresolved.
Questions About Accuracy
Lookonchain’s method relies on Arkham’s labels, which are not infallible. Arkham itself notes its 95% target, meaning one in twenty attributions could be wrong. For a prominent figure like Hayes, the margin for error matters — a misattributed wallet can create false market signals. Whether this is such a case is unclear.
At the time of writing, HYPE was trading at $61.43, up 4.58% over the past 24 hours, with a market cap near $13.65 billion — ranking tenth among all cryptocurrencies. Hayes has previously held a $150 price target for HYPE in 2026, a projection that now looks distant given the current price. The question lingering after Friday’s denial: who actually controls the wallet that Lookonchain tied to Hayes, and what was the withdrawal for?
